It has been known that a current passed through water will produce an electrodecomposition of the water into its constituent gases, hydrogen and oxygen. It has been further known that passage of a current through hydrocarbon produces a fracturing of certain of the hydrogen-carbon bonds, producing lighter phase hydrocarbons such as acetylene, ethylene, methane, as well as hydrogen; but it has proved difficult to accomplish from a commercially acceptable cost viewpoint, the production of relatively pure hydrogen gas from either of these starting materials. When electrodecomposition occurs of oil or water, hydrogen is produced to the accompaniment of these other gases.
Hydrogen is a readily available fuel, but it is impractical to use because of its expensive production. It is an ideal fuel because of pollution-free byproducts. It burns controllably, has adequate BTU content and for combustability it has few equals.
Burning hydrogen simply produces water vapor and, from a home-heating standpoint, eliminates the requirement for vents, flues, and the like. Internal combustion engines can readily adapt to hydrogen as a fuel and the combustion product, being water, is totally pollution-free. With these advantages, it is remarkable that the art has not utilized hydrogen as a preferred fuel. The answer lies in the fact that hydrogen is not a readily available fuel as might be thought; its generation is expensive and requires, in relation to the BTU output, more than a comparable energy input to produce from the starting materials, so that the energy balance is unfavorable.
Another use of hydrogen is, it can be blended with other gases in preferred amounts, and in that form is useful for pressurizing spent oil wells to develop secondary oil recovery. It has been known for some time that repressurizing spent oil wells is useful in the operation of secondary and sometimes tertiary oil recovery.
One of the applications of the present invention is in conjunction with our pending application, Ser. No. 953,075, filed Oct. 20, 1978, "APPARATUS AND PROCESS FOR THE RECOVERY OF OIL".
It has been found that gases for pressurizing oil wells may be developed not only at the subsurface but also at ground level and such constituent gases including hydrogen and other gases such as air, are provided to the well in pressurized condition. Hydrogen when used in approximately 8% to 15% by volume of the pressurized gas is highly useful. Repressurization of oil wells, while not part of the present invention, is mentioned only insofar as the present invention is an available source of hydrogen for utilization in the secondary and tertiary oil recovery operations.